OLPC Comes to Canada

Belinda Stronach is promoting use of OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) in aboriginal schools in Canada. I can relate to that. In many aboriginal communities, the ratio of students per PC is ~10 when most educators seek a range from 1 to 3. OLPC Canada is getting started with a first goal of 5000 OLPCs. It’s just a start. The need is at least 100K. OLPC has the advantage over using recycled desktop PCs, the solution I used, because they are a better size for small children and their classrooms.

“One Laptop per Child (OLPC) Canada
A core program of The Belinda Stronach Foundation (TBSF), OLPC Canada strives to empower Aboriginal youth to play an active role in their own education through access to learning centered technology. Canada’s first National OLPC program, TBSF has provided approximately 3600 laptops to children 6-12 years of age in rural, remote and urban communities. For more information about the international OLPC movement, please visit one.laptop.org
OLPC Canada is a testament to the strength of partnerships and the important role the private sector, government and NGOs can play in strengthening communities and strategically investing in Canadian children. The program has been generously supported by Vale, BMO and the Government of Ontario.”

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About Robert Pogson

I am a retired teacher in Canada. I taught in the subject areas where I have worked for almost forty years: maths, physics, chemistry and computers. I love hunting, fishing, picking berries and mushrooms, too.

14 Responses to OLPC Comes to Canada

Jennifer wrote, “the need is much greater than the initial goal of 5000 laptops.”

Yes. When I taught in the North, I usually found 7-10 students per PC instead of 1-3 that really makes IT useful in education. Many schools had only a lab and scheduled visits to IT is not really the best use of IT. I suggest many schools would be better off having a cluster of PCs in each classroom rather than a lab. Of course, the best of both worlds is to have a lab and clusters.

In Canada, there are hundreds of thousands of aboriginal students barely getting an education. Better use of IT in schools would be a huge benefit. Thanks, OLPC.

Thank you for this post! You are absolutely right, the need is much greater than the initial goal of 5000 laptops. It really helps to have people like you raise awareness about the need for this program. Thank you for your contribution!

Lowering the price of hardware is OLPC plan from day one. The XO laptop or tablet (XO-3 not yet in production) are designed to be rugged i.e shock resistant.
Remember the disruptive nature of OLPC caused panic to Intel and Microsoft who sabotaged the effort.

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.